9 Best SRS Investment Options in Singapore [2026]

You’ve contributed to your SRS account and enjoyed the tax relief. Job done?

Not quite. The money is now earning 0.05% a year, and it may sit there for decades until your withdrawal age. Left uninvested, inflation will undo much of the benefit you contributed for.

In this guide, we go through the nine main investment options for SRS funds in 2026, what they currently pay, and, using official data, what SRS members are actually doing with their money.

If you’re new to the scheme itself, start with our guide to how SRS works first.

Key Takeaways

• SRS funds can be invested in Treasury bills (T-bills), Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs), fixed deposits, money market funds, single premium annuity plans, robo-advisor portfolios, ETFs and index funds, unit trusts, and shares or REITs listed on the SGX.
• Shares, REITs, and ETFs made up 24% of SRS holdings as at December 2025, the largest category, based on MOF data. Government and corporate bonds (including T-bills) have nearly tripled their share since 2020, but 21% of SRS money still sits in cash earning 0.05%.
• There is no single best option. It depends on how far you are from your withdrawal age and how much risk you can accept. Lower-risk options (T-bills, SSBs, annuities) currently offer around 1.5% to 3% a year, while market investments offer higher potential returns with no guarantees.

What Are SRS Members Actually Doing With Their Money?

Before going through the options one by one, it helps to see what half a million SRS account holders are collectively doing.

Here’s the breakdown of SRS holdings by asset category, based on MOF’s cumulative SRS statistics:

Asset category	Dec 2025	Dec 2020
Shares, REITs, ETFs	24%	29%
Others (incl. government and corporate bonds, fund management)	23%	8%
Cash balance	21%	26%
Insurance	20%	26%
Unit trusts	11%	11%
SGD fixed deposits	0%	1%

The “Others” category, which includes T-bills and other government securities, nearly tripled from 8% to 23%. That’s the T-bill boom that began when interest rates surged in 2022, and it changed how many Singaporeans use their SRS accounts.

The cash share is down from 26% to 21% over the five years, though it edged up from 19% in the most recent year. Either way, that 21% is still about $5 billion earning close to nothing, based on SmartWealth’s analysis of the MOF data.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Idle SRS funds earn 0.05% a year at all three agent banks.

Say you have $100,000 in your SRS account at age 40 and plan to start withdrawals at 65. After 25 years at 0.05%, you’d have about $101,300.

But prices won’t stand still. At 2% average inflation (roughly in line with Singapore’s long-run inflation rate), that $101,300 would buy only what about $62,000 buys today. At 3% inflation, closer to $48,000.

Doing nothing with your SRS balance can cost you far more than the tax relief ever saved you. So let’s look at the alternatives, starting from the lowest-risk options.

The 9 Best SRS Investment Options

1) Fixed deposits

You can place SRS funds in fixed deposits with the agent banks, locking in a rate for a fixed term with no risk to your principal.

The catch is that rates are modest. As of 2026, the best SGD fixed deposit promotions pay around 1.5% a year, and SRS-specific placements often earn less than the headline cash promotions. MOF’s data shows fixed deposits now hold 0% of SRS money, rounded down. SRS members have moved on to options that pay more for similar safety.

2) Treasury bills (T-bills)

T-bills are short-term Singapore Government securities, sold at a discount and repaid at face value after six months or one year. They’re backed by the Government’s AAA credit rating, and you can apply using SRS funds through your operator bank’s internet banking.

From 2022 to 2024, T-bills were what everyone talked about, with cut-off yields running above 4%. Rates have since come down. As of 2026, 6-month T-bill cut-off yields have settled around 1.5% to 1.7%. Auctions run roughly every two weeks, so check the latest result before you apply.

T-bills are still a safe place for SRS money at these levels, but they no longer pay what they did. Each maturity also returns the cash to your SRS account, where it earns 0.05% again until you reinvest it, so this option needs you to stay on top of rollovers.

3) Singapore Savings Bonds (SSBs) and SGS bonds

Singapore Savings Bonds are Government-backed bonds with step-up interest over 10 years, redeemable any month without capital loss. SRS funds can be used to buy them.

As of 2026, recent issues have paid a 10-year average return of around 2%, with the rate stepping up over the decade rather than paying a flat coupon. A new issue opens each month, so check the current rate before applying.

Longer-dated SGS bonds are also SRS-eligible and can lock in rates for 10 to 30 years, though their prices fluctuate if you sell before maturity.

One thing to plan for: an SSB must be redeemed after 10 years at most. If you’re decades from your withdrawal age, you’ll have to reinvest the proceeds when it matures, at whatever rates apply then.

4) Money market and cash funds

These are a newer option for SRS members. Money market funds and cash management portfolios (offered through the robo-advisors below and other fund platforms) invest in short-term deposits and high-quality debt, and most accept SRS funds.

Yields move with interest rates. As of 2026, SRS cash portfolios advertise roughly 1% to 2.5% a year, not guaranteed, with money back in your SRS account within the week.

Their real appeal is convenience. There are no auctions to apply for and no maturities to roll over, at the price of a small fund fee and no capital guarantee.

5) Single premium annuity (endowment) plans

This is the one option built specifically around how SRS pays out, so it needs a longer explanation than the rest.

Under MOF’s rules, only single premium insurance products can be bought with SRS funds, life cover is capped at three times the premium, and critical illness or long-term care plans are excluded. So in practice, the insurance product you can buy with SRS is a retirement-focused annuity or endowment with negligible insurance coverage. For actual protection needs, term life plans bought with cash remain the right tool.

How it works: you allocate a lump sum from your SRS account, wait until your selected retirement age, then receive a monthly income (part guaranteed, part non-guaranteed) for a set payout period, typically 10 years, flowing back into your SRS account in line with the 10-year withdrawal window.

Why people choose them:

• Most plans are capital guaranteed at maturity, so the guaranteed income floor is known from day one
• Combined guaranteed and non-guaranteed returns typically target around 2% to 3% a year, depending on the plan and holding period
• They use the full runway from now to your withdrawal age, with no reinvestment risk along the way
• Applications are usually guaranteed issuance with no medical underwriting
• Policies are protected under the Policy Owners’ Protection Scheme administered by SDIC, subject to caps

The trade-offs are real too. Your money is locked in, and surrendering early usually returns less than you put in. The non-guaranteed portion depends on the insurer’s fund performance. And if markets do well, a capital-guaranteed plan will underperform a diversified portfolio held for the same decades.

MOF’s data shows insurance still holds 20% of all SRS money, though its share has been declining for two decades as members diversify. In my opinion, an annuity remains a sensible anchor for the portion of your SRS funds you cannot afford to see fluctuate, rather than a home for all of it. Plan features differ meaningfully between insurers, so compare before committing, ideally as part of a comprehensive financial plan rather than in isolation. Cash-funded versions of these plans work similarly, which we cover in our guide to retirement annuity plans.

6) Robo-advisors

Endowus, StashAway, and Syfe all accept SRS funds, and this has become one of the most popular ways younger members invest, part of why the scheme’s under-36 membership has more than doubled since 2010.

You pick a portfolio matched to your risk level, and the platform invests your SRS money into diversified funds or ETFs, rebalancing automatically. Fees typically run from around 0.25% to 0.8% a year on top of underlying fund fees.

Worth knowing: platform risk is real even when the underlying investments are diversified. Providers can be acquired, restructured, or move their business elsewhere, as MoneyOwl (still operating today) has been through. In these cases client assets are typically retained and transferred to another provider rather than lost, so the main cost to you is usually the hassle rather than your money.

7) Index funds and ETFs

If you prefer to do it yourself, SRS funds can buy SGX-listed ETFs directly through a brokerage linked to your SRS account.

A broad index ETF gives you diversification across dozens or hundreds of companies at low cost, without depending on any single fund manager’s judgement. Over long horizons, this passive approach has historically outperformed most actively managed alternatives, though history is no guarantee of future returns.

The constraint for SRS investors is that direct brokerage purchases are limited to SGX-listed instruments, so the choice is narrower than what a cash brokerage account can access globally. If you want global index exposure, the practical route is through the robo-advisors and fund platforms above, which can invest SRS funds into globally diversified portfolios.

8) Unit trusts

Unit trusts pool your money into a professionally managed fund. Hundreds of SRS-approved funds are available through the agent banks and fund platforms, covering every region and asset class.

The appeal is active management and wide choice, with access to strategies and markets that a single ETF may not cover. Fees are typically higher than ETFs or robo-advisors, often around 1% to 1.5% a year through platforms that use clean or institutional share classes, so it’s worth understanding what you’re paying for and choosing funds where the approach justifies the cost over the long run. MOF’s data shows unit trusts holding a steady 11% share of SRS money.

9) Shares and REITs

Finally, SRS funds can buy individual stocks and REITs listed on the SGX. Together with ETFs, this is the largest category of SRS holdings at 24%.

Singapore’s REITs are worth a specific mention. They pay regular distributions, and inside SRS those land in your account tax-free. Since SRS money is meant to stay put until your withdrawal age, the value here isn’t income to spend now but distributions you can reinvest so they keep compounding tax-free until you actually need them. The risk is concentration. A single stock or a handful of REITs can underperform for years, and unlike a diversified fund, there’s nothing else in the mix to balance it out.

If you’re picking individual counters with your retirement money, be honest with yourself about whether you have the time and knowledge to do the research.

How to Choose: 3 Questions to Ask Yourself

Before the three questions, one point worth keeping in perspective.

In my view, the main reason to use SRS is the tax benefit, the relief on the way in and the 50% concession on the way out, more than the investment growth itself. The investing is really there to keep inflation from eroding the balance while it sits, not to chase the highest possible return.

So you don’t need the top-performing option to make SRS worthwhile. You mainly need to avoid leaving it in cash and quietly undoing the tax advantage you contributed for.

How long until your withdrawal age?

Your SRS money has a known destination date: the statutory retirement age locked in at your first contribution. If that’s 25 years away, you can afford market risk and time to recover from downturns. If it’s five years away, capital preservation matters more, and this is when investors typically shift from market investments towards T-bills, SSBs, or annuities.

One group runs on a different clock. If you’re a foreigner planning to leave Singapore and take the one-time full withdrawal once your account crosses 10 years, your horizon is the account’s tenth anniversary rather than a retirement age, so favour options you can comfortably hold or unwind from abroad. Our guide to SRS for foreigners covers that rule in full.

How much risk can you actually stomach?

Not in theory, in practice. If a 30% fall in your retirement fund would keep you up at night or push you into selling at the bottom, build around the guaranteed options and add market exposure in smaller amounts. Any of the nine can work, but none of them work if you abandon them halfway.

Does the option fit how SRS pays out?

Remember that everything you invest eventually flows back into your SRS account and out through the 10-year withdrawal window. Annuities are built around exactly this structure. Market investments need you to plan your own de-risking and drawdown sequence. Factor that work in when comparing returns, and see how it fits your broader retirement planning.

So, Which Is the Best SRS Investment Option?

There’s no single answer, and anyone who offers you one without asking about your situation probably has something to sell.

Rather than point you at a particular product, it’s more useful to name what the choice actually turns on: how far you are from your withdrawal age, and how much volatility you can genuinely live with. The further off your withdrawal age and the steadier your nerves, the more room you have for market investments. The closer it is, or the less comfortable you are with swings, the more weight shifts towards the lower-risk end.

Perhaps the clearest lesson from the data is what to avoid. Around 21% of all SRS money, roughly $5 billion, is still sitting in cash earning 0.05%, and it’s worth making sure yours isn’t part of it.

But choosing an SRS investment in isolation is the wrong starting point. Your SRS is one line in a much bigger picture. Before it makes sense to decide how these funds are invested, the more important questions are whether your family is adequately protected if something happens to you, whether you hold enough in emergency savings, what your CPF and other retirement income already provide, what you own and owe elsewhere, and what your retirement actually needs to cost. The right SRS strategy is the one that fits all of that, and it can only really be answered by looking at everything together. 

That whole-picture view, mapping your SRS alongside your protection, cash flow, and existing assets rather than in isolation, is what our comprehensive financial planning session is built to do.